


Show me all your favorite sidewalks

by Codango



Series: Sitting in the street [4]
Category: Free!
Genre: Flirting, Fluff and Angst, Graduation, Karaoke, M/M, asking for a date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-12
Updated: 2014-10-12
Packaged: 2018-02-20 20:00:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2441150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Codango/pseuds/Codango
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SHIT. Maybe… maybe Sousuke was tired of it. All of it. Had to be. Tired of the weird signals. And that stupid, stupid kiss… every time Makoto thought of it, he wanted to die. For about two seconds. Then the memory started to replay in full, and he’d forget everything but the tug of Sousuke’s hands on his waist and the way his lips fitted just right over...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Show me all your favorite sidewalks

**Author's Note:**

> For the first prompt of SouMako week! Started off writing angst, seems to veer off into fluff, so what the hell, I've tagged it as both.  
> Plays heavily off of a couple other stories -- but never fear! I've grouped them all nicely into a series for you:  
> Sitting in the street

Makoto twisted his hair between his fingers and frowned. Rin had insisted everyone go out for a “ridiculously late night of karaoke” to celebrate their graduation from high school.

The trouble wasn’t that Makoto didn’t like karaoke. He did. He was, in fact, secretly proud of his rendition of ’N Sync's _Bye Bye Bye_. English wasn’t his strength, but he’d muscled through the pronunciation until Haru didn’t smirk anymore when he sang it.

And the trouble wasn’t that anyone else in the group that night was even particularly bad. Momo-kun was, admittedly, a little more enthusiastic than skilled, but that’s all in the spirit of karaoke.

The trouble was… Makoto glanced over at the farthest corner by the door. The Sousuke Glower was in full effect tonight. The butterfly powerhouse hadn’t so much as cracked a smile all evening, not even at Rin’s solo. Which basically ensured Sousuke wasn’t about to smile for anything.

He’d… kind of thought they were… maybe onto something after Sousuke’s little game with the cherry blossom a few weeks ago. Makoto ran a hand through his hair and blushed, remembering Sousuke pulling the petal from his hair. _That was… definitely flirting. Right?_

Makoto watched as Sousuke continued to glare at the floor. _Well. Maybe not._ He couldn’t exactly swear that he knew what flirting looked like. What if, say, you really wanted someone to flirt with you — how could you read _anything_ they did accurately? Maybe the petal had just… looked really stupid, and Sousuke hadn’t been able to deal with it anymore.

Sousuke looked up, and Makoto all but felt that blue-green gaze slam into him. _Shit!_

Sousuke’s eyes widened.

Makoto offered a hesitant smile.

The Samezuka swimmer’s mouth thinned, and he stood.

 _SHIT. What —_ maybe… maybe Sousuke was tired of it. All of it. _Had to be._ Tired of the weird signals. And that stupid, stupid kiss… every time Makoto thought of it, he wanted to die. For about two seconds. Then the memory started to replay in full, and he’d forget everything but the tug of Sousuke’s hands on his waist and the way his lips fitted just right over...

Makoto felt his face flush, and he turned quickly, pretending to focus on Rei and Nagisa’s Gaga duet. _Well. Well, okay._ If Sousuke wasn’t interested, that was… well, that was… fine.

He felt a hand on his shoulder.

Sousuke stood over him, his face grim. He jabbed with his thumb toward the door. “We’re going to get drinks.”

Rei and Nagisa performing Gaga was a particularly engrossing display, so none of their friends noticed when Makoto’s mouth pretty much fell to the floor.

“Ah?” Makoto babbled. “Th-they have drinks you can order here… right.” He grabbed the menu from a low table.

Sousuke took the menu, looked at it for half a second, then let it fall to the couch. “Nothing on there I want. Let’s go.” He turned toward the door.

Makoto looked around, certain he was blushing like mad, wishing someone would tell him what to do. _Leave? Alone? With him?_ He’d make a fool of himself again, he just knew it.

But Gou was singing happily along at the top of her lungs. Rin was trying to suavely put his arm around Haru who was pretending not to notice and letting him. Momo was thumbing through the playbook, trying to entice Nitori with this or that song for a duet.

Makoto swallowed hard.

And followed Sousuke out the door.

They walked in silence, past the front desk and out into the chilly spring air. Makoto bit his lip and tried to look straight ahead, but a few glances may have been stolen. Sousuke kept his frown firmly in place, and Makoto didn’t even know where to begin to break the tension. _Maybe he just wanted to get out of the karaoke booth?_ _Rei and Nagisa were kind of intense._ Makoto sighed. _Most likely he’s going to ask why I’m so weird and could I please get it together already._

Sousuke yanked out his wallet and stopped at a vending machine across the street from the karaoke place. Makoto noted he went with cold coffee. _Not that I’m going to remember that,_ he promised himself.

“Tachibana, what do you want?”

“Oh, I can get my own!” Makoto dug in his back pocket. “Don’t worry—”

“ _Makoto._ ”

Something tiny and excited exploded in Makoto’s brain. Sousuke gritted his teeth as he stared at the machine in front of them. “Just… just what do you want,” he repeated, his voice tense.

“Ehhh…” Makoto scanned the selection without seeing it. _Tachibana? Makoto?!_ “Then, oolong, please.”

He accepted the bottle with a tiny “thank you” and settled on a nearby bench. His first sip was cut short when Sousuke barked a laugh.

“So you do sit on benches.” The dark-haired boy seated himself next to Makoto. “I’m relieved.”

Makoto flushed. Again. “I was sitting on a bench for karaoke, as you may recall.”

Sousuke looked sideways at him and grinned. Makoto was pretty sure his heart stopped. “Tch. I figured that was just because there weren’t any streets or sidewalks handy.”

Makoto stared at him, embarrassment flooding him. _Well… that one time was because… and the first time, he—!_ He stood and walked forward. Without looking back, he sat on the curb and took a long slug from his tea.

He heard a soft laugh behind him. The rustle of Sousuke standing.

“What the hell?” Sousuke said, quiet bemusement in his voice. “Makoto is stubborn?” He squatted next to him. The glower was gone from those blue-green eyes, and Makoto tried _so hard_ not to gape at the way they sparkled.

Makoto took another swig of tea to distract himself. “So it’s Makoto now? I was getting so used to being barked at as Tachibana.”

“Well, you seem to have trouble remembering to say Yamazaki instead of Sousuke, so I thought I’d just make it easier on you.”

Makoto closed his eyes. _Shit. He noticed?!_  “All right, Sousuke. What makes cold coffee from a vending machine better than cold coffee from a karaoke bar?”

Sousuke raised an eyebrow. “Cheaper.”

Makoto gave him a look. “Bullshit.”

Sousuke gave a delighted laugh that Makoto would have handed over his first year of college tuition to hear again. _Okay, probably not, but did you_ hear _that?_

“Okay,” Sousuke said finally. His expression grew serious again, and Makoto’s stomach dropped. _No, wait, I want… flirty Sousuke to stay._ Because he knew, definitely this time, that flirting was happening.

“So,” Sousuke began. “So, you’re going to Tokyo. To university.”

Makoto nodded. This wasn’t particularly news to anyone.

“Hm. When do you leave?”

“Ha, I’ve got the whole summer, Sousuke!” Makoto lifted his bottle to his lips in what he hoped was a carefree gesture. “Don’t act like we have to jump _right_ in to our next lives!”

A slight smile lifted the corner of Sousuke’s mouth. “Fair enough. So before you begin your next life, Makoto — you should hang out with me a little more.”

The bottle stopped halfway to Makoto’s lips. The heat went as far as his ears this time. _What._

“We could make Coach Sasabe let us into the swimming club for free,” Sousuke continued.

_Did he just…?_

“Or I know this great coffee place a guy introduced me to one time.”

_Is he REALLY…?_

“I mean, I’m not picky.” He flashed Makoto a grin that would have set him on his ass if he weren’t there already. “You could show me all your favorite sidewalks around town, for all I care.”

Makoto stared at him. Stared at this gorgeous young man. Hair the color of dark chocolate, shining in early afternoon light. Blue-green eyes, normally so serious, looking so damn fine peeking out under dark brows. And Makoto cleared his throat.

“I… might have one or two.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> [@codango](http://codango.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr
> 
> [Marcella Christie](http://marcellachristie.com/) for my alter ego


End file.
